Spanish missions in Florida

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A plaque showing the locations of a third of the missions between 1565 and 1763

Beginning in the second half of the 16th century, the Kingdom of

Mission Santa Elena in present-day South Carolina, around the Florida peninsula, and in the interior of Georgia and Alabama
.

The missions of what are now northern Florida and southeastern Georgia were divided into main four provinces where the bulk of missionary effort took place. These were

dialects were spoken among the varying Native American
peoples, thus, they reflected the territories of the peoples. Missionary provinces were relatively fluid and evolved over the years according to demographic and political trends, and at various times smaller provinces were established, abandoned, or merged with larger ones. There were also ephemeral attempts to establish missions elsewhere, particularly further south into Florida.

History

The priests and religious that traveled with the early

Father Luis de Cancer and three other Dominicans to Tampa Bay was the first solely missionary effort attempted in La Florida. It ended in failure after six weeks with de Cancer's death at the hands of the Tocobaga natives, which sent shock waves through the Dominican missionary community in New Spain for many years.[2]

The first Spanish missions to Florida, starting with the foundation of St. Augustine in 1565, were attached to

Paris Island, South Carolina. Santa Elena was abandoned in 1587, leaving St. Augustine as the only sizeable Spanish settlement in La Florida.[5]

Modern map showing the approximate location of Spanish missions and the connecting Camino Real across northern Florida

The missions at the presidios were staffed by the

Tallahassee by 1633.[7]

The mission system functioned for decades, as the Spanish convinced most village leaders to provide food and labor in exchange for tools and protection. Regular waves of European-borne disease along with conflict with Carolina colonists to the north weakened the system as the 1600s progressed. It collapsed in the aftermath of

Creek allies, killed or kidnapped much of the remaining native population of Spanish Florida except in areas near St. Augustine and Pensacola.[8] The network of missions was virtually destroyed by Carolina Governor James Moore's incursions into northern Florida between 1702 and 1709, a series of attacks that were later called the Apalachee massacre. Dozens of missions and surrounding villages were abandoned by the early 1700s and their locations lost, as was much of the former route of El Camino Real. As a result, only a few mission sites in Florida have been found and positively identified.[6]

Architecture

The mission buildings of La Florida were built with posts set into the ground. The walls were palmetto thatch, wattle and daub or plank, or left open. The floors were clay, and scholars believe the roofs were thatched. The church buildings in the missions averaged some 20 m by 11 m. Other buildings situated within a palisade included a convento to house the missionaries, a barracks for the soldiers, and often a separate kitchen.[9][10]

Provinces

The Spanish used the term "province" for the territory of a tribe or chiefdom. There was no fixed definition of province boundaries. As tribes and chiefdoms lost population and importance, the provinces associated with them would no longer appear in the records. Other provinces expanded to take in their territories. Most of the people taken into the mission system were Timucua speakers. Three major groups that spoke other languages were also taken into the mission system. The Guale Province was the territory the Guale, and covered what is now coastal Georgia and the Sea Islands north of the Altamaha River. The Guale were among the first people to be taken into the mission system, in the 1580s.

Later in the 17th century, Guale Province was sometimes referred to as extending southward and including the region otherwise known as

Florida Panhandle, along the Gulf of Mexico coast from the Aucilla River to the Ochlockonee River. The Spanish established one early mission among the Mayaca people, a non-Timucuan speaking tribe south of the Agua Fresca, and resumed efforts among them, and their relatives, the Jororo, in the late 17th century. This district, which became known as the Mayaca-Jororo Province, occupied an area to the south of Lake George, on the upper (southern) St. Johns River.[11][12][13][14]

The Timucua-speakers, most of whom were brought into the mission system in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, were initially seen by the Spanish as living in a dozen or so provinces, with the Acuera, Ibi, Mocama, Potano, Timucua (in its restricted sense, north of the Santa Fe River, and east of the Suwannee River), Utina, Yufera, and Yustaga provinces becoming major components of the mission system. During the 17th century, as Timucuan populations declined and the locations of Spanish missions were consolidated along the road between St. Augustine and Apalachee, most of these provinces were gradually consolidated in Spanish usage into a Timucua Province stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Aucilla River.[15]

The

St. Simons Island south to St. Augustine, extending westward to approximately the distance of the St. Johns River in Florida.[16] It included some of the earliest missions to be established, and served the Mocama, a Timucuan-speaking group of the coastal areas. Important missions established in the Mocama Province were San Juan del Puerto, among the Saturiwa chiefdom, and San Pedro de Mocama, among the Tacatacuru
.

The Timucua Province was initially established to serve the people known to the Spanish as the Timucua (called the

Suwanee rivers. Later, the Yustaga Province, which served the Yustaga who lived to the west of the Suwanee as far as the Aucilla River, was added, and the Timucua province covered the majority of north central Florida. The coastal area south of the Mocama Province and St. Augustine was known as La Costa; though this area had some Timucua speakers, it did not see much missionary activity, perhaps because it was less densely populated. There were also a few missions established to the north and west of the Apalachee Province.[17]

Missions

See also

Notes

  1. ^ ""Episode 07 Spanish Mission Bell" by Robert Cassanello and Kevin Stapleton". stars.library.ucf.edu. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
  2. ISBN 1-56164-115-4
    . Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  3. ^ "Luna Expedition". UWF Anthropology and Archeology. University of West Florida. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  4. ^ "Selected Chronology of European Colonization in the Southeastern U.S." University of West Florida. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  5. S2CID 160809833
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 1560989408
    .
  7. ^ "El Camino Real – Division of Historical Resources". dos.myflorida.com. Florida Department of State. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  8. ^ McEwan. pp. xix–xx.
  9. ^ Saunders. pp. 51–56.
  10. ^ Thomas. pp. 9–19.
  11. ^ Griffin: xv
  12. ^ Hann 1993: 92, 128.
  13. ^ Milanich: 97, 98, 99
  14. ^ Saunders: 35–36
  15. ^ Hann 1996: 2, 5–7, 9, 12
  16. ^ Milanich: 98
  17. ^ Milanich: 98–99
  18. ISBN 0-8130-0776-3
    .

References

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External links
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